Minimally invasive surgical techniques are aimed at reducing the amount of extraneous tissue that is damaged during diagnostic or surgical procedures, thereby reducing patient recovery time, discomfort, and deleterious side effects. As a consequence, the average length of a hospital stay for standard surgery may be shortened significantly using minimally invasive surgical techniques. Also, patient recovery times, patient discomfort, surgical side effects, and time away from work may also be reduced with minimally invasive surgery.
A common form of minimally invasive surgery is endoscopy, and a common form of endoscopy is laparoscopy, which includes minimally invasive inspection and surgery inside the abdominal cavity. In standard laparoscopic surgery, a patient's abdomen is insufflated with gas, and cannula sleeves are passed through small (approximately one-half inch or less) incisions to provide entry ports for laparoscopic instruments.
Laparoscopic surgical instruments generally include an endoscope (e.g., laparoscope) for viewing the surgical field and tools for working at the surgical site. The working tools are typically similar to those used in conventional (open) surgery, except that the working end or end effector of each tool is separated from its handle by an extension tube (also known as, e.g., an instrument shaft or a main shaft). The end effector can include, for example, a clamp, grasper, scissor, stapler, cautery tool, linear cutter, or needle holder.
To perform surgical procedures, the surgeon passes working tools through cannula sleeves to an internal surgical site and manipulates them from outside the abdomen. The surgeon views the procedure by means of a monitor that displays an image of the surgical site taken from the endoscope. Similar endoscopic techniques are employed in, for example, arthroscopy, retroperitoneoscopy, pelviscopy, nephroscopy, cystoscopy, cisternoscopy, sinoscopy, hysteroscopy, urethroscopy, and the like.
Minimally invasive telesurgical robotic systems have been recently been developed to increase a surgeon's dexterity when working on an internal surgical site, as well as to allow a surgeon to operate on a patient from a remote location (outside the sterile field). In a telesurgery system, the surgeon is often provided with an image of the surgical site at a control console. While viewing an image of the surgical site on a suitable viewer or display, the surgeon performs the surgical procedures on the patient by manipulating master input or control devices of the control console. Each of the master input devices controls the motion of a servo-mechanically actuated/articulated surgical instrument. During the surgical procedure, the telesurgical system can provide mechanical actuation and control of a variety of surgical instruments or tools having end effectors that perform various functions for the surgeon, for example, holding or driving a needle, grasping a blood vessel, dissecting tissue, or the like, in response to manipulation of the master input devices.
A huge variety of tools have been developed for open surgery, many (though not necessarily all) of which have been successfully modified for minimally invasive surgical procedures. For example, manual clamps, linear cutters, and stapling devices can apply significant therapeutic clamping forces on tissues, which can enhance a variety of surgical procedures. Unfortunately, work in connection with the present invention indicates that adapting open surgical clamping devices (and developing methods for safely and effectively using them) within minimally invasive settings may be more challenging than expected. In particular, developing and using surgical clamping jaws capable of generating desired clamping force while also providing the desired maneuverability for use within size-restricted minimally invasive surgical access and treatment sites has proven to be quite difficult. Transferring the advantages available from surgical staplers, linear cutters, and surgical clamping tools to robotic surgical settings may involve even more challenges, particularly given the different paradigms in surgeon-directed tool movement, tool activation, and physician feedback presented by the new telesurgical treatment systems.
Thus, there is believed to be a need for improved methods and systems for surgical staplers, linear cutters, and/or other clamping surgical tools. Such tools may be beneficial in a wide range of surgical applications, particularly in minimally invasive and/or robotic surgical applications.